Brooklyn – especially Park Slope – was hit as hard as any part of the city by Thursday’s monster twister that featured winds which topped out a 125 mph.
As of last night about 1,000 trees were uprooted by the vicious weather system that left battered residents in large swaths of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island struggling to clean streets littered with crushed cars, building debris and fallen tree limbs.
City Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) released a summary of the damage as of 4:30 am yesterday. The highlights were:
? Totals Tree-Related Calls: 1750
? Trees Down: 849 citywide (182 in Brooklyn). That number was later upped to roughly 1,000 citywide.
? Parks Department completed 94 work orders regarding trees down
? Parks Department deployed 22 crews to work through Thursday night. FDNY provided 6 tree-removal crews. NYPD provided 14. The Sanitation Department provided five. The Transportation Department also provided five teams.
? Most power outages were due to downed overhead lines. Total customer outages are 28,324 (just 49 in Brooklyn).
? Number of reported buildings damaged was 45 (Brooklyn had 22).
? There were 27 schools reporting trees down.
Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), who toured Park Slope after the storm ended, said two large trees fell in front of MS 51 but didn’t damage the building.
He also said that he happy to see “neighbors on every block helping each other clear debris, move downed trees, sweep up glass, and even help a neighbor find a place to stay.”
Lander also said that the plate-glass windows of the Brooklyn Industries store at 7th Avenue and 9th Street was blown out by the storm, injuring a deliveryman who was on his way inside. He was recovering at a local hospital yesterday.
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Related story:
It was a tornado: Storm’s killer gusts hit devastating 125 mph (New York Post)